Add Gnome 2/3 and full Unity support about crouton

[dnschneid]

Certainly; the chroot is a fully-functional distribution. You'll have to figure out which packages are necessary and what command to run to start it; I've created targets and shortcuts for Unity, LXDE, and KDE (that's the -t parameter when you create or update the chroot via the crouton command), but didn't manage to get gnome2 or gnome3 working in the short time I tried.

Let me know if you get it working, what packages you installed, and what command you need to run to start the DE and I'll add a target for it for others to benefit from.

[craigerrington]

lukevaka: to install gnome-shell into your chroot, execute the following commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell
(You could have a slightly more up-to-date build by first adding the following PPA and then following the commands above: ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3 )

David: The xinitrc launch is "exec gnome-session"

[dnschneid]

I don't think that's enough, unfortunately, due to the minimalistic nature of the chroot. You have to add a system user (whoopsie), start a system dbus daemon (or potentially obtain access to ChromeOS's), and then specify --session=gnome to gnome-session, but even then it seems like wallpapers don't work and there's lots of features missing. I'm not familiar with gnome2/3 and probably won't investigate further myself, but if you come across something that seems to be working, give me the steps and I'll clean them up and make a target.

[lrvaka]

Its all good, I will just stick with XFCE. Crouton is the bomb by the way.

[craigerrington]

I'll have a go tonight - that sounds like something I could get going

[ipstone]

just a thought not sure if someone is interested in get cinnamon on chromebook: it's by far the most smooth experience I have with ubuntu, (it's orginated from mint), the suspend /resume is a breeze with cinnamon, as well as the interface etc. if gnomeshell can run, cinnamon definately can (it runs a little faster than gnomeshell in my hands)

[dnschneid]

Note that this indirectly affects running Unity as well (the logout menu depends on gnome-session, and Ubuntu Software Center depends depends on a system dbus with some apt daemon on it).
ipstone, Craig, if either of you make headway on this, please track it here.

[DennisLfromGA]

I like using the Unity desktop but the logout menu is a bit of an issue for me. Is there a graceful way of exiting this chroot session? I tried 'shutdown ...' and, yes it shut everything down, not just the chroot - I felt like a fool ;-)

[rminnich]

On Tue, Jan 29, 2013 at 11:33 AM, DennisLfromGA [email protected]:

I like using the Unity desktop but the logout menu is a bit of an issue
for me. Is there a graceful way of exiting this chroot session? I tried
'shutdown ...' and, yes it shut everything down, not just the chroot - I
felt like a fool ;-)

you need to change your attitude! Not "I felt like a fool" but "THIS STUPID
THING IS WRONG!". Now doesn't that feel much better :-)

If you kill the X server running on your vt it will all end peacefully but
that may not be quite what you want?

How hard is it to change unity menus?

ron

[DennisLfromGA]

minnich
You are absolutely correct, it was the stupid machine now that I think about it! ;-)
Thanx for the suggestion, I'll look for the vt process and kill it.

[dnschneid]

The song "Hotel California" comes to mind...

The Unity logout menu depends on gnome-session, AFAIK, which we aren't yet running due to the assumptions it makes about the underlying system. If it can handle non-gnome-session then we may have a better chance of getting a normal logout menu, but more likely, someone needs to figure out a way to have gnome-session running in a not-overly-crippled way.

Killing the X11 server is one way of escaping, but not a good idea if you're on ARM or using the Xephyr target, as that will kill your Chromium OS session as well. Instead, I recommend running pkill 'unity|metacity' which should bring down the session cleanly.

[DennisLfromGA]

Thank you Mr. Schneider for that recommendation
You're the man!

[DennisLfromGA]

By the way, I just tried the kde desktop and it's THE BOMB too!
It even does all the fancy desktop stuff, I've setup 4 virtual desktops in a cube and switch between them with ease - very cool!
kde is my 'go to' desktop now, better than unity imho.

[paulobrien]

I've been playing with a unity instance today, it's great, but ultimately most things don't work, I assume because of the gnome-session issue.

For example, installing Ubuntu Software Center via apt worked of course, but then it doesn't run.

Anything I can do to fix this?

Another oddity, the 'sudo startunity' script only seems to work if I have a single chroot, I created a cli-extra one and startunity stopped working (almost like it's using the first directory in the chroots dir?)

[dnschneid]

USC won't run due to the lack of a system dbus. You can launch a system dbus daemon or tie in to the Chromium OS one, but even then, USC still won't run because whatever APT daemon it expects to be on the system dbus won't be there. It's a bad experience all around unless you put the effort into getting all of the pieces together, which has not been done yet. If all you want is a graphical package manager, the Synaptic package manager will do the trick. If you're trying to purchase software or re-install stuff you've purchased, you're out of luck until the above problems are resolved. I don't believe anyone is looking into it right now.

As for the start* scripts, they just call enter-chroot which will indeed use the first chroot found unless specified otherwise. Use the -n parameter to specify a specific chroot to launch.

[dnschneid]

Okay, try the latest crouton (you can start from scratch, or upgrade your existing chroot via the -u parameter; there should be no issues). crouton now sets up a system dbus. That seems to be all the Ubuntu Software Center really wanted (aptdaemon is already installed with it), so it should work now. Well, it worked for me, at least. It will inevitably break everything once somebody else tries it.

You should also find that stuff like power managers and drive mounting suddenly now work. Bluetooth will work as well, but you will need to tell it to use the Chromium OS's dbus daemon by using the host-dbus command. With Blueman, for example (sudo apt-get install blueman), launch it using host-dbus blueman-applet. I don't think Gnome's bluetooth-applet works (surprise!).

I still don't think gnome-session works yet, although I haven't really tried it. Maybe it works?

Anyway, please try it out and let me know how things go.

[gregnwosu]

awesome!

[lrvaka]

Okay, Ubuntu Software Center opens up, but I can not install anything. Help?

[dnschneid]

Open up a terminal in the chroot, run software-center and try to install something, then post the output via pastebin or something.

[paulobrien]

This is the output from when I try to install gnome-terminal...

http://pastebin.com/D6Vjxfxq

I notice the logout menu still doesn't work also?

Thanks,

P

[dnschneid]

Logout menu won't work until Unity is launched via gnome-session, which still doesn't work.
Thanks for the log; does the stuff on this bug fix things?

[lrvaka]

How can I change the theme and font in unity? It is really ugly.

[dnschneid]

No idea; go look for a tutorial on customizing Unity. Some packages may not be installed (in which case please report here so that I can have them be installed with the Unity target), or applying the configuration may depend on gnome-session for some ridiculous reason (in which case that won't work until gnome-session does). Otherwise, please remember that crouton gives you a very minimal (but ideally usable) environment that may need some configuration to get it the way you like it. Standard themes may not be installed, etc, and this is to be expected. This is not a flaw of crouton and should not be reported here.

[moocow1452]

Lubuntu Software Center might work if Mainline is still giving you problems.

EDIT: Nope.

[dnschneid]

Nice try, though. It's probably more to do with some daemon in /etc/init or /etc/init.d not being run (because, well, we don't run any) or a dependency on having a display manager running (which, again, we don't), rather than an issue with the repo itself.

[moocow1452]

Ah well, most everything of what I could ever want works anyway if I manually hunt it down. Would be nice to get 64bit support or some way to pipe one OS to the internal monitor and one to the external, but all and all, pretty damn impressive here.

[dnschneid]

64-bit works fine, as long as you are running a 64-bit build of Chromium OS (check uname -m).
Simultaneous display of both OSes would need to somehow circumvent Aura's mouse containment.

[moocow1452]

Sure you couldn't use something like the three key salute to change mouse input instead of the entire OS?

[ipstone]

crouton is great. With ~1-2 month on it, I honestly think it's the best linux/ or maybe developer laptop (on samsung g3): long better, ultraportable like macbook air (without the $, and even longer battery life), with crouton, ubuntu linux is right there.

I am experimenting using awesome WM on this now, shall I just start it by: sudo enter-chroot awesome ? (I am in the process of apt-get install awesome)

[ipstone]

maybe not a surprise:
chronos@localhost ~ $ sudo enter-chroot exec awesome
powerd stop/waiting
E: awesome: main:378: cannot open display
powerd start/running, process 30377
Unmounting /usr/local/chroots/precise...

[ipstone]

solved now. awesome is running, pretty awesome!
Here are some steps (some are just lazy hacks)

• make a copy of the startxfce4 (the one under chroot ), rename to awesome, replace any xfce4 string there to 'awesome'
• add the following xinitrc to ... chroot/precise/home/your_user_name/.config/awesome/ folder
  http://awesome.naquadah.org/wiki/Autostart
  for now, I just used the traditional way, disable the other relevant lines such as audio etc
• now enter sudo enter-chroot startawesome
  it simply works.

Awesome!

one other fix is that awesome by default uses 'Mod4' key (windows key) for shortcut, but chromebook doesn't have such a key. we can map it to other keys, such as Alt. But as emacs user, remap alt key probably isn't a good idea, i am going to think what are better choices. but it's awesome to have 'awesome started' here!

Thanks for the nice job on crouton!
-lastly, there's another project on github called crouton ... which might confuse some new users
maybe something like just "cu", might be simplier ... just a random thought, but whatever David thinks as the name is the best.

[ipstone]

turned out that on chromebook mod4 is simply: the search key!
awesome! no need to map mod4

[moocow1452]

Can I start a cli-extra instance of Linux, so that everything can be in the crosh, but then start up a desktop from the command line, so that I'm not immediately kicked into LXDE or whatever when I just want to get my hands dirty?

[rminnich]

enter-chroot with no args.

BTW, I start a very minimal chroot, as opposed to many people here who
start a full ubuntu set of demons. I've compiled flwm with bigger fonts,
and so
/usr/local/bin/enter-chroot xinit /usr/bin/flwm-source

So I only have one process at start: flwm.

Much lighter weight, and who needs all those daemons if you're running
chromeos?

ron

[x3qt]

I tested gnome 3 and cinnamon with the raring release and still getting only a crashes.

[wymby]

I don't see where anyone has tried gnome3 since the dbus fix. So I did and it appears to work. After setting up an x11 chroot (ubuntu/precise), I installed gnome-session, gnome-shell and gdm, then ran "gdm &" from a root prompt. An alternative to gdm is "exec gnome-shell" in .xinitrc (one fewer step and password entry).

I'm not a gnome user (prefer fvwm) -- I'm trying this out for a colleague. So I haven't done much with it. Anything else I should try or test to be sure it's working ok?

[x3qt]

@wymby Good news! On which chromebook model have you tried?

[wymby]

I knew I'd forgotten something. It's an Acer C7-2833.

[dnschneid]

That's the same as running through lightdm. Using a DM to launch Unity has its own host of issues (see #61); mainly, it totally screws up Chromium OS integration. We need to figure out what lightdm/gdm does that crouton currently does not when launching gnome-session so that startunity/startgnome/whatever works just as well.

[peteonrails]

I can confirm gnome-shell is working on the Pixel. Steps I took: 1) Update to Raring (oprional: I don't think this was important to get it working), 2) remove unity packages 3) install gnome-shell and ubuntu-gnome-desktop 4) I selected Lightdm (but it looks like GDM works too).

I started it up using sudo enter-chroot then startx, which is good enough for me.

[dnschneid]

startx works in that context? That's news to me.

[peteonrails]

It does, indeed. https://gist.github.com/peteonrails/5761003 I was also surprised, pleasantly surprised. Seems to quit correctly as well. Haven't been able to find any misbehavior yet. I'm sure that'll change as soon as I post this comment. ;)

[dnschneid]

Okay then, here's where the fun starts. Start with a precise chroot with -t unity and confirm startx isn't working. Then figure out what package suddenly makes it work :)

[dnschneid]

I just added to #197 a version of the xinit script that makes startx work regularly. I don't see how startx would work without any modification, so keep investigating without that version, please.

[artemkolotilkin]

Hi David,

I was just wondering if I can help somehow with investigation and fixing of that issue. Let me know please if there is something that I can do. Thanks.

• Artem

[dnschneid]

@artemkolotilkin, thanks for offering to help. As far as I can tell, the main remaining, perplexing issue is that gconf seems to be behaving differently when indirectly launched via a DM (be it lightdm or gdm) than it does when launched via xinit, which transitively makes gnome-session behave strangely. gconf is not properly pulling in the systemwide default values for items. Here's what I think the next things to try would be:

1. Grab the crouton-desktops build from #61. Be aware that the crouton used in there is quite old, so when you use it, specify a different prefix (i.e. -p /usr/local/desktops or something).
2. Install the ubuntu target to a chroot: sudo sh -e crouton-desktop -p /usr/local/desktops -t ubuntu.
3. Use sudo sh -e /usr/local/desktops/startdm to start lightdm, and log into a unity session.
4. Use ps and /proc/pid/environ and whatnot to check the gnome-session and gconfd (is that right?) processes, in particular launch command line and environment variables.
5. Do the exact same thing but using the latest crouton creating a unity chroot and launching with startunity. There won't be a gnome-session process, but there will be a gconfd process (I think).
6. Report back on differences and we can see what to try from there.

[dannyfritz]

This is interesting in regards to Gnome 3 on the Chromebook Pixel: http://worldofgnome.org/gnome-shell-3-9-4-release/

[dnschneid]

oop, no gnome yet

[dnschneid]

But Unity's working great now, thanks to @smibarber's breakthrough.

[dannyfritz]

I'm running gnome-shell 3.8 on raring currently. Works great and looks beautiful on my Pixel!
I did something like -r raring -t core,cli-extra,x11,chrome,touch,keyboard and added the gnome3 ppa and did a sudo apt-get install gnome-shell gnome-desktop-environment. I really don't know if gnome-desktop-environment is required.
Then simply startx

[dnschneid]

Massive thanks to @smibarber, Unity and Gnome should be working perfectly in the latest crouton.

[reeved]

Im still having this issue? I had installed elementary os and it works like a charm but yesterday i tried install unity 13.10 and xfce 13.10 and none of them are working? They both seem to have this problem. I cant install USC apps?

[reeved]

@paulobrien did you fix the policykit thing? Im currently having that trouble and Id like help

sorry to be late to this discussion. feel free to point me elsewhere. I have the samsumg chromebook with precise/xfce4 running nicely. I would like to add an additional chroot and install Kali or another flavor (just because). but I am can't make out how to create the new chroot (how to to create it, name it, etc). and then I want confirmation that I can install a distro and targets into a second chroot.
anyone willing to walk me through it? or point me to a crouton resource in GH or online that explains?
thanks much.

[DennisLfromGA]

feel free to point me elsewhere

@prostaff58 - Take a look at:

Install multiple chroots with different DE #95

[reeved]

hey @prostaff58 would you like to install Kali in the same chroot so that you could have xfce and Kalie together or would you like a whole other chroot?

for the first option: type in "sudo sh -e ~/Downloads/crouton (or wherever your crouton file is located) -t (type the name of the targets you would like to install) -n precise or whatever you named your chroot) -u
so a model line would look like: sudo sh -e ~/Downloads/crouton -t cinnamon,keyboard,gtk-extra -n raring -u

The second option would be to install a whole new chroot. To do this just do the same thing you did when you installed xfce.:

sudo sh -e ~/Downloads/crouton -t cinnamon,keyboard,gtk-extra,extension -r (release you what)

If you would like to name this chroot something else type "-n (with the name you gave it)" after everything. If you dont do this, the default name would be the release name.

To enter this chroot just type:
sudo startcinnamon -n raring

You will always need to specify which chroot you would like to enter when you start

thanks for the idea and info. you are correct, I was under the impression
that each distro needed its own chroot. I understand (now) that distros can
share targets. are there pros and cons to doing it one way or the
other...same chroot versus separate chroots?

appreciate your thoughts and input.
ᐧ

On Mon, Apr 21, 2014 at 6:00 PM, reeved [email protected] wrote:

hey @prostaff58 https://github.com/prostaff58 would you like to install
Kali in the same chroot so that you could have xfce and Kalie together or
would you like a whole other chroot?

for the first option: type in "sudo sh -e ~/Downloads/crouton (or wherever
your crouton file is located) -t (type the name of the targets you would
like to install) -n precise or whatever you named your chroot) -u
so a model line would look like: sudo sh -e ~/Downloads/crouton -t
cinnamon,keyboard,gtk-extra -n raring -u

The second option would be to install a whole new chroot. To do this just
do the same thing you did when you installed xfce.:

sudo sh -e ~/Downloads/crouton -t cinnamon,keyboard,gtk-extra,extension -r
(release you what)

If you would like to name this chroot something else type "-n (with the
name you gave it)" after everything. If you dont do this, the default name
would be the release name.

To enter this chroot just type:
sudo startcinnamon -n raring

You will always need to specify which chroot you would like to enter when
you start

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com//issues/6#issuecomment-40982163
.

[reeved]

Well, Im not really the right person to ask xD
I was in the same situation as you just a few days ago hahaha.
But what Im doing right now is having multiple chroots for different releases of Ubuntu. This lets me have XFCE and Unity 13.04 and XFCE and Unity 14.04.
I use the 14.04 for its better support for applications (e.g. Ubuntu 13.04 doesnt support Python IDLE 3.4 which I use at school, it only supports IDLE 3.3.2).
But theres a problem with anything upwards of 13.04 where somethings wrong with the PolicyKit and you cant install or update apps with running them as root from the terminal.
Therefore I also have 13.04 versions of these because this problem doesn't exist on 13.04 and under.

If you'd like some comprehensive details about advantages and disadvantages I'd suggest asking someone else haha

Okay thanks for the suggestion. Now thinking that Kali makes more sense on
usb thumb drive due to size and chromebook drive space.
On Apr 21, 2014 10:01 PM, "reeved" [email protected] wrote:

Well, Im not really the right person to ask xD
I was in the same situation as you just a few days ago hahaha.
But what Im doing right now is having multiple chroots for different
releases of Ubuntu. This lets me have XFCE and Unity 13.04 and XFCE and
Unity 14.04.
I use the 14.04 for its better support for applications (e.g. Ubuntu 13.04
doesnt support Python IDLE 3.4 which I use at school, it only supports IDLE
3.3.2).
But theres a problem with anything upwards of 13.04 where somethings wrong
with the PolicyKit and you cant install or update apps with running them as
root from the terminal.
Therefore I also have 13.04 versions of these DE's because this problem
doesn't exist on 13.04 and under.

If you'd like some comprehensive details about advantages and
disadvantages I'd suggest asking someone else haha

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com//issues/6#issuecomment-40996690
.